'She who must be obeyed'

I am a huge fan of classic movies and there is none as classic as Hammer Films.

Hammer Film Productions was founded in 1934 by Will Hammer and Enrique Carreras. They produced a few un-notable films pre-WW2, but it wasn’t until 1954 with a BBC adaptation series of The Quatermass Experiment that they found their fame with a range of X-rated horror films. This brought together the amazing acting duo of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. They starred and co-starred in numerous Hammer productions, with Lee defining a role of Dracula that then went on to many sequels. Unfortunately (for me) by the mid 1970s, low to mid-budget theatrical productions came to an end. Generally the British film industry had slowed considerably. The last movie made was To the Devil a Daughter which was released in the UK in February 1976. Hammer went on to produce another film but this time for Rank, a remake of The Lady Vanishes. Then under new management during the early 1980s, they produced a television series for ITV, The Hammer House of Horror and Hammer House of Mystery. This was the end for Hammer.

I was very blessed when at the weekend a work colleague thoughtfully gave me a box set of 21 Hammer DVDs. I have seen the obvious Hammer films such as Dracula but there are so many others that I haven’t watched. So I started with She.

She is an adaptation of H. Rider Haggard’s 1887 novel, A History of Adventure. It stars bond girl Ursula Andress, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, John Richardson and Bernard Cribbins. It was Hammer’s most expensive movie to date due to Andress’ high fee and filming in Israel. The high budget is obvious as the sets look authentic and lack the usual Styrofoam look.

The story is very slow before there is any action, but the storyline is good. After being discharged from the British Army, Professor Holly (Peter Cushing), Leo Vincey (John Richardson) and their valet Job (Bernard Cribbins) go on an expedition into an unexplored part of north-east Africa. Leo receives a map from a mysterious woman whom he feels a deep connection to. They follow the map and discover the lost city of Kuma.

Kuma is ruled by an immortal Queen called Ayesha (Ursula Andress). Ayesha believes Leo is the reincarnation of her former lover, the priest Kallikrates. Ayesha tries to convince Leo of who he was and encourages him to walk into a bonfire after it has turned blue, to make him immortal. Unfortunately she cannot resist stepping into the fire herself believing that it will make her immortality stronger. But it has the reverse effect and removes it. She ages rapidly and her body disintegrates in front of Leo.

It is not really the type of film that today we would class as a horror. But to lack of knowledge of different cultures during the 60s, I would imagine that the scenes of tribal dancing and ritual sacrifice would have been quite alarming. It’s an interesting film and a far-fetched story but the costumes and set are very well done. I enjoyed it. Xxx

#hammerclassicfilms